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Reviewing Retirement Finances

Reviewing Projected Retirement income - Checklist

If you already have your retirement planning in
hand then you need to periodically review that you are on course to achieve the
retirement income that you want, decide if your objectives have changed, and
make any adjustments necessary.

Our Timeline section for retirement planning by age
will give you the things to consider, both finance and lifestyle, at each stage
but this section provides a checklist that you will find useful on each occasion
that you want to carry out a review. Ideally you should do so each year, even if
it is only cursory to make sure nothing has changed. If you receive an annual
report from your pension provider this can be a good time to review everything.

So review each of the following and decide if they
necessitate changes in what you are saving:

What of significance, if anything, has changed in
your personal circumstances? This might be change of job, moving house, birth of
child or grandchild, divorce, death of family member, inheritance etc. If so
does this change have implications for your retirement provision?

Have you changed the target date for when you want
to retire? In particular if you want to retire earlier, what change do you need
to make to your retirement savings?

Have you got an up to date forecast from your
pension provider of your fund and its projected size if you continue saving
at the same rate? Most provide an annual valuation and projection.

If there is a shortfall do you need to increase
contributions? Do you receive bonuses or have other lump sums that you might pay
into your pension scheme.

Have you obtained a state pension forecast and if
so is it still accurate?

Have you checked the state retirement age
calculator?

What is forecast to happen to annuity rates? Will
this impact your pension and necessitate any adjustments to savings?

Are you in a position to increase major recurring
expenditure, such as mortgage payments, so that your mortgage is paid off by the
time you want to retire?

Has what you want to do in retirement changed? Are
there any things that would significantly affect expenditure? Have you built a
list of such items to maintain for the next review?

Are there any major life expenditure items that you
need to build into your plans e.g. children’s weddings. Have you built a list of
such items to maintain for the next review?

Have you moved jobs since the last review? Is there
a pension left with your old employer? If so have you filed away contact details
for the future?

Are you now within 5 years of when you might want
to retire? If so look at our ‘When you retire’ section to start understanding
the decisions you will need to make. Also take a look at the checklist in that
section as a supplement to this one.

Also as you get nearer retirement consider whether
you might wish to go for phased retirement which might help your overall
financial situation and timescales for retirement.

NEXT STEPS

The rest of this Guide covers the various aspects of
planning your retirement finances in the first place. If you have your
retirement planning in hand we still suggest you browse through the whole guide
to make sure you have covered all aspects and then use this checklist
periodically in the future.